


We Have Time Now

by MinaAffairs



Series: Lord and Lady of Dryl [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Cybernetics, F/M, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Post Season 2, Years Later, but vague about specific events, faked abuse, serious injury mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-04-05 20:25:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19047763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MinaAffairs/pseuds/MinaAffairs
Summary: Consciousness returns to him all too quickly. Immediately his systems begin to wake and he is swamped by a diagnostic feed. Calibration of new hardware. Old hardware updating its status. He puts the feed to the back of his reality and takes stock of his surroundings. Some sort of lab, stone walls, robots and other electronics. He's been here before. Only a couple of times but he has been here.They lost the war, but enacted a plan to survive it together.





	We Have Time Now

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to give these two a preemptive happy ending together.
> 
> This can be taken as a far off sequel to [The Most Intimate Touches](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19036216) but they are independent.

Consciousness returns to him all too quickly. Immediately his systems begin to wake and he is swamped by a diagnostic feed. Calibration of new hardware. Old hardware updating its status. He puts the feed to the back of his reality and takes stock of his surroundings. Some sort of lab, stone walls, robots and other electronics. He's been here before. Only a couple of times but he has been here.

Hordak is in the castle of Dryl. By the look of things he is in Entrapta’s lab, laid out on an operating table. Sensors and tools are attached to him, both on his skin and jacked into his implants. A familiar robot scuttles by, Emily, she doesn’t seem to take much note of him. Likely the faithful robot is taking care of some task for her mistress. Hordak closes his eyes again and dismisses his diagnostic feed. The warlord doesn't need it here, Entrapta will be on top of it. It seems that everything has gone according to plan after all.

 

They knew that they were going to lose long before anyone else. Lord Hordak and Lady Entrapta had a skill that the vast majority of Etheria lacked, they could crunch the numbers. Those numbers did not look good for them. The Horde had lost this war. No one else would see it for months or even years, but the Lab Partners turned rulers saw it. Hordak's goals held for so long became all but unattainable. At least with the current strategies.

So the two of them worked on alternative plans of action. Paths into the future that they could walk together. Hordak was quite aware at the time that without Entrapta he likely would have gone down with this ship, so to speak. He never would have considered alternatives, so focused on his plans and desires. Lord Hordak would have struggled against the Princess Alliance until his dying breath with nothing to show for it. With his beloved however he had it in him to ponder alternate futures. It was a strength.

 

The sound of boots hitting the floor brings Hordak back to the present. He can tell immediately who it is, and for her he'll make his conscious state known. She would figure it out on her own while working anyway so there was no point not to. So his eyes open, a yellow glow emanating from them, and he turns to look at Entrapta as she walks up. Taking her in. She has returned to the outfit he met her in, the generic self made work clothing of the Princess of Dryl. Hordak found it rather nostalgic, she had been wearing the armored garb of the Lady of the Horde for some time before all of this.

Upon seeing his eyes the princesses expression falters, some combination of relief and exhaustion flooding her. How long has she been working on him? Her shoulders look so heavy, her entire body tired. Hordak smiles a little at her despite his concerns, and reaches out a hand slowly, taking note of the aches in his muscles. "You were successful." He praises.

Entrapta's breath catches in her throat for a moment, but she steels herself and steps forward. A bundle of her hair wraps around his hand, squeezing gently. It’s easier to touch with prehensile hair. "Yes. It was a difficult but fascinating experiment. It made me feel nervous in the final stages. But it seems to have been a complete success!" She has never been particularly good at expressing her feelings, but that has never been a problem for Hordak. He understands, and knows that as they talk she’ll grow more relaxed and open. It has been months since they had last been able to speak with one another after all.

 

Entrapta had to leave the Horde, return to the princesses. It was a risky move, and difficult to pull off. With former Force Captains Catra and Scorpia having joined the rebellion everyone knew the princess of Dryl was 'involved' with the ruler of the Evil Horde. It was the best option to ensure her safety however, as well as her ability to help him at the end of the series of events they were to set in motion. The solution to the problem of the princesses trust presented itself in the rumors and whispers of the people around them. 

Entrapta would run, she and Emily escaping the horde. They would run straight to Bright Moon, playing the role of a broken, beaten young woman. She wouldn't speak of what happened directly to anyone, but the implication would be there. Lord Hordak was a monster, he had forced her to stay with him, to be with him. It was disgusting, degrading, disgraceful, and it would be completely believable to the rebellion. Entrapta and Hordak both hated it, to consider her so weak and he so petty and pointlessly violent. Appearances they fought against every moment of their relationship. Yet they were nothing if not pragmatic and that was the easiest path to success.

So Lord Hordak sat alone upon his throne once more. He roared in anger at the news of her flight in front of those that told him. In private he let himself feel a level of relief. Entrapta was safe, and their plan could move forward. Once it would have been impossible for him to put so much trust into another, but Entrapta was special. This too was a strength.

 

Now he watched her read his diagnostic feed through one of his implants. The princess is utterly engrossed, focusing on the work and shutting out the world. Normally he would let her do this, come out when she was ready, she always got to where she needed to go in time. It was a trait she had confessed she worried over sometimes, that it angered people around her. Hordak hated to push her on this sort of thing. He was antsy though, perhaps impatient, so he spoke. "Entrapta. How long?" He needed to know.

It was a loaded question, of course. One Hordak knew the beautiful young woman would understand instantly. Part of him did not want this to be their first conversation together again, but it had to be asked. It took her a moment but Entrapta spoke. "Thirty two hours and seventeen minutes." She speaks quickly at first, then slows. "You were gone for thirty two hours and seventeen minutes…" her hair loosens around his hand and she sighs, shoulders still so heavy.

The words played on loop in Hordak's mind. That was far longer than had been expected. Well over the redline for the situation they had planned for. "What happened?" His voice was probing, but not hard.

"It took longer than expected to gain access to your body. That was the majority of the time. The other princesses were hesitant to give you to me." Rightfully so. 

"How did you manage it?"

"I stole you." She states plainly. "And have been working until now."

Hordak nods lightly, staring up at the ceiling. So much work and it almost failed because the damnable Princesses wouldn’t let her have his body. They had hoped that her being part of the alliance again for as long as possible would have dealt with that possibility.

 

The war strategy had to be shifted entirely for their new plan. A job that would have been easier with Entrapta by his side, but one he had to execute without. The Princess Alliance was successfully countering every meaningful action the Horde took. It made sense, the princesses had the advantage in precise surgical actions. It allowed them to derail most of what Hordak actually wished to accomplish. If he they had known that the Princesses would remain suspicious for so long Entrapta could have stayed longer, helped to move their work further while he worked at the war.

Regardless, Entrapta had left and the Horde’s footing shifted. The Princesses had the advantage in surgical strikes but grand sieges? Putting boots to ground and marching in force to take land? Those things the Horde had the advantage in. So Lord Hordak abandoned his projects, his research, his true desires, and took direct command once again. For the first time in decades the ruler of the Horde lead the charge against the rebellion.

Catra was a strategic savant, Adora a skilled and meticulous commander, but Lord Hordak? He had decades on them. Experience and schooling that the leaders of the rebellion could never match, and above all he had the particular advantage of not fighting to win this war anymore. Hordak only needed to lose with flair. To let go of all that he had built here. There was strength in letting go.

 

"Luckily you weren't actually dead! Your heart continued to circulate at a low power setting and the shallow breathe protocol for your lungs worked!" Entrapta’s voice pulls Hordak back out of his remembrance. She was sounding excited, happy, again. "No one noticed!"

"There was no examination?" Hordak quirks a brow. He's sitting up now. His entire body aches. Sharp pain pierces him when he moves. It will take time to fully recover, but he begins to pull some of the monitoring equipment attached to him. He has felt this pain before, it’s the pain of being alive.

"Oh well, everyone got so caught up in celebrating and your injuries were… very extensive." Entrapta notes, moving to sit on the surgical table with him. “Your entire left lung was gone! The generator casing was cracked, your optics were almost burnt out, some of your ports were torn out-" she continues for a moment, giving him the rundown of what She-Ra and Catra had done to him in that last battle. Vicious young women, those two. Their ability to work together seemed rivalled only by Entrapta and his own. It was their reuniting that truly sealed the Horde’s fate.

"You did an excellent job repairing the damage than." Hordak notes as he looks himself over. "Exemplary, though I never had a doubt of My Beloved's abilities."

Entrapta flushes just a little. She looks up at him to smile, and Hordak can’t help but reach out and run his talons through one of her long tails. Hair is safe to touch he has learned. Entraptas visage lets him know this was all worth it.

 

Lord Hordak had fought his war for decades on end, yet the final months felt longer than the rest combined. A combination of knowing the end of it all was soon, and missing the woman he had grown so close to. So when the final battle came, when he moved the Horde into a grand push against the rebellion. He felt anxious. It all hinged on trust for him now.

He fought tooth and nail, he engaged She-Ra and any princess that stood with her himself. He had to be the center of this battle, this grand finale. The Princesses had to celebrate the greatest victory he could provide them in order for it all to come together. Entrapta had been certain they would not destroy his head, or even decapitate him, that would be too barbaric. They banked on the fact She-Ra would run him through. They would batter his body. They would cut and rip and scorch him, but not destroy him outright. 

If everything in his body failed the implants in his brain would give entrapta time to work before he was unrecoverable. If he could keep his heart and lungs intact that time would be extended dramatically. Hordak performed excellently. It was a fight he would have lost no matter what, but in not trying to win he was able to control it and guide it to his survival. So as he fell and the world went to black. As Force Captain Catra gloated over him and She-Ra looked so pained at what she had just had to do, the life she had so brutally taken. The yellow on his board was a beacon of hope in a sea of red. He did not need strength anymore, he only needed to fall.

 

Hordak stood now, taking careful steps, no further would he fall. He shouldn't be up though, no one should be up so soon. Entrapta doesn’t say anything about that though, she knew her Hordak, knew that after giving it all up he needed some measure of control back. "You got a lot done in a short time." He notes as he examines his standing body now.

"Oh I built replacements for all of your parts while we were apart from each other." She chimes! That too sounds like his Beloved Entrapta.

"You said you stole me. Should we expect that to be a problem?" The former Lord asks as he turns to look back at Entrapta. She is brilliant but she has been known to take action in a pinch without always considering the unintended consequences. Blessedly she simply shakes her head.

"No. Well. Yes. But not in the way you expect! I blew up the morgue they put you in! So it looked like revenge! I learned from them that many would expect hurt former partners to want that sort of thing!” Entrapta nods, Hordak would not know about such things but it seems reasonable. “I expect they'll be here to ask me about it soon but there's no way they think I stole your body to bring you back from the dead!"

Hordak smirks at Entraptas quick and clever mind, then steps back over to her. "May I kiss you, Lady Entrapta?" He always asks. Surprise touching makes her uncomfortable, especially of the intimate variety. She nods a little, and the two share a simple but loving kiss. Entrapta sighs happily, she missed him as much as he did her.

When there kiss breaks they spend a moment with their foreheads pressed together, just enjoying this moment. They had grown to take each other’s presence for granted before the new plan was enacted. Never again. Now they had been reminded of what a life apart was like, and they would never allow that to come to pass again.

"What do we do now?" Entrapta finally speaks up, causing Hordak to stand back up straight. She looked so unsure, suddenly uneasy. So much work had been put into getting this far that the steps after had been nebulous at best. "You probably want to try again with the portals right? If not to contact the Horde to at least escape Etheria."

"No." His response was quick. Hordak had had time to think about this while they were apart. "It is too soon to resume any projects that complex. There is nothing to do now but wait. Let the world grow complacent again. If we are lucky She-Ra may even free this world from this empty dimension." He notes, would that not be ironic. In a way he would have created his freedom either way if that came to pass. "We have time to wait now."

Entrapta looks up surprised though, she had likely spent the past months assuming he would want to leave as soon as possible again. "What about getting off of this planet? You hate it here!” Despite how elated the sound of just being with him is she does not want to see him give up on his goals, his dreams. 

"I did, but I have found something I am fond enough of that it makes this backwater planet… bearable." Hordak nods, controlled, but smiling a little despite himself.

The Princess of Dryl, former Lady of the Horde, and Beloved of a Tyrant, blushes red and grins. Then she hops up! Excited! "I should get you a map of the castle! It's impossible to navigate without one! That'll help you stay out of sight when anyone shows up too! Oh we should work on disguises in case we ever want to go anywhere!" She's going now, rambling and ranting about there immediate and long term future. No silly fantasies though, only practical considerations. Hordak smiles as she talks, he does so love this woman.

**Author's Note:**

> There is a non-zero chance this become multi-chapter of fluff in the future but for now is a one shot.


End file.
